Beverast Very smart suggestion from Cuprajake, sometimes there are genuine bargains to be found by thinking outside the box. Was in similar position, very happy with my Niche but really wanted to try a big flat - without having a P64 style budget.
There are a lot of ex-cafe big flats (and big conicals if you feel the lack, lol) at what seem like very silly prices compared to domestic new machines. Picked up an 83mm flat in vgc for a third of the price of an unmodified DF64. The grind quality is very, very good. Short grind path too…nothings perfect - its pretty huge - but another forty dollars for mod bits and a bit of sweat equity and I’ll have a pretty decent single dose machine.
My biggest problem now is fitting everything on my coffee trolley - next project, lol!!!